Heroes' Dawning
by Blue Lending
Summary: Zidane and the rest of the Tantalus Theater Group contemplate the future kidnapping of Princess Garnet. Zidane eagerly accepts the challenge, but Blank has reservations. Something about the next day seems too dangerous to sit comfortably with him. And his feelings spread on some quiet level to the rest of the group. A heist of this size is the biggest risk any of them have had yet.


Heroes' Dawning

**Please note: I do not own anything belonging to Final Fantasy IX. This work is solely for entertainment purposes and in no way is meant to be an infringement on copywrite laws**

It was a kind of darkness that settled. A sort of calm that took in its own breath. Zidane stood at the edge of the theater ship, taking in breaths of this night. The ship was flying, as it would all night and into the morning. And typical of any night before a big job, he couldn't sleep.

He crossed his arms over the rail and rested his chin on them, his tail limp with his calm, almost touching the ground. "Tomorrow," he thought. "Here we go."

He abandoned the rail and went downstairs, out of the open air. He could hear the others before he saw them—laughing. "Zidane!" Marcus lifted a glass as he walked in and Blank pushed a chair toward him. Everybody sat around the table in the candlelight, eating and drinking before the big heist. The oglops—a crucial part of their plans—were housed in a bird cage, which they rattled horribly as they buzzed and fought with the bars.

"Where's Cinna? He driving?" Zidane asked as he sat to join them. "Yep. Boss went to bed about an hour ago and put him in charge for the next few hours," Marcus said, "Which means more food for me." Marcus broke apart a loaf of bread and carved a slice of summer sausage.

Blank leaned back in his chair. "To be honest, I don't even know why Baku took this damn job. I mean he's had us dirty our hands before but never on this sorta scale."

"You nervous?" Zidane said and smirked. Blank crossed his arms. "Never. But a princess? Brahne's gonna have all of Alexandria after us. And we're supposed to do this like some regular operation?"

Blank leaned forward. "But I can't wait to see the look on that fat broad's face. Right when we smuggle her luscious daughter from right under her nose." Zidane laughed and Ruby scowled.

"I don't think ya'll even know whut this darlin' looks like. Knowing you, you'll nab the wrong gal and bring back some nameless bimbo who'll be followin' me all around the ship askin' questions like "Whut's this lever do? And 'please Ruby, help me escape since you're a woman too an' all'."

"Oh we know what she looks like," Zidane gave Blank a knowing look, and even Blank smiled. "Who could let that face slide past without memorizing the whole thing?" Zidane's tail flicked excitedly as he spoke.

The cage of oglops rattled as the bugs flapped and rammed into the bars.

"Put that thing away, already. I hate looking at those things." Blank frowned. "The poor darlin's don't even know they're about to be in the presence of royalty," Ruby flicked her hair.

"Yeah. We're moving up in the world guys," Zidane said. "A princess on board, and the Regent's gonna pay us plenty for this job." "Yeah, but even so you'd never stop stealing," Marcus said. "You got it." Zidane laughed again.

"I don't know, guys," Blank said, crossing his arms. "I have a funny feeling about his next one." "Next what?" Marcus asked. Blank scratched his ear.

"I'm not sure. Just this next job. I don't know. It doesn't sit right with me. I feel like we're really getting ourselves in trouble with this. I don't know why the boss would take it."

"You worry too much," Zidane leaned back and put his boots on the table. "Don' even be thinkin' of puttin' those on here," Ruby slapped his feet. Zidane laughed and removed them.

"It's just another heist. Nothing dangerous about that. It'll go smooth, I know it. A princess on board, and such a cute one at that… I think this is the beginning of something good," Zidane said.

"It's the beginning of something," Blank scoffed.

The room grew quiet, and somehow somber, then. Even the timbers in the ship seemed to settle into the silence of the "before."


End file.
